Green Materials: PTT ties up with Alpla for recycling plant in Thailand

Under the collaboration, the partners will launch a feasibility study for the joint construction of the plant. The joint venture firm is known as Envicco and will be located at Asia Map Ta Phut Industrial Estate in Rayong. It will produce rPET and rHDPE plastic pellets in Thailand.

PTT Global Chemical President/CEO Supattanapong Punmeechaow said: “We will make a decision in the third quarter of this year after reviewing the results of the study.”

Alpla develops and produces plastic packaging solutions globally. It currently operates two recycling plants in Austria and Poland, and has joint ventures in Germany and Mexico for PET recycling.

Alpla started its operations in Southeast Asia in 2000, when it opened an in-house operation at Unilever Thailand. The first base plant in Prachinburi, Thailand, was inaugurated in 2004. The regional headquarters is located in Bangkok and is also home to the regional technical centre.

Alpla has also committed to expand its recycling activities by investing ‎EUR50 million and make all of its packaging solutions fully recyclable by 2025.

The company will also increase the volume of processed post-consumer recycled materials to 25% of total material usage.

Meanwhile, in an effort to optimise resources, PTT has developed bioplastics as an alternative type of plastic and the implemented effective waste management systems as part of its commitment to a circular economy.

PTT also says it has also adopted the GC Circular Living approach in both internal and external operations. As well as creating cooperation with all sectors in the management of plastic waste through various projects of the company, such as the Upcycling the Oceans, Thailand project, to collect plastic waste from the sea through the production process into fashion products, it also manages the ThinkCycle Bank Project to educate children and youth on waste management, and also has the PPP Rayong project, a collaboration project between government and private sectors in waste management.